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fullscreen The killer snail is thought to have come to Norway with imported plants. Archive image. Photo: Paul Kleiven/NTB Scanpix/TT
1.9 billion small insects from upwards of 1,000 different species. When the Norwegian commercial gardens imported plants last year, a large number of stowaways accompanied them.
Several of the species can cause damage in Norway.
“There are species hiding here that we absolutely do not want in Norway,” says Ellen Hambro, head of the Norwegian environmental authority Miljødirektoratet, in a press release.
Among the harmful insects is the tomato moth, which attacks tomato plants and can threaten the domestic Norwegian tomato cultivation. A type of ram, which eats seeds and is said to be able to reduce seed production in conifers by up to 70 percent, has also been found, as has the weed white knotweed.
“Many gardeners are probably familiar with the brown forest snail (killer snail), which first came to Norway as a stowaway with imported plants and which is now found all over the country. We fear bringing in even more species that spread and cause damage,” says Hambro.
Behind the information lies random samples taken by the Norwegian Institute for Natural Research over the past ten years, among other things, from the soil clods where imported plants grow.
Last year, over 20,000 tonnes of garden plants were imported to Norway.